Britain's queen wins 60,000 fans on Facebook debut

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth has joined Facebook, adding a presence on the world's most popular social network to the royal family's accounts on Twitter, photo-sharing site Flickr and YouTube.

The British monarchy's Facebook page (here) does not allow users to "friend" the Queen or to send her messages, but offers updates on royal news and diary events.

By midday Monday, a few hours after the page went live, 60,000 people had clicked to signal they liked it, meaning they will receive updates on the royal family's activities in their Facebook news feeds.

The page does not display personal details such as the Queen's relationship status, interests or political views.

Britain's royal family prides itself on keeping up to date with new technologies.

In 2008, the Queen uploaded a video to YouTube during a visit to Google's London offices, in 2009 a British monarchy Twitter account was launched, and a royal Flickr account was created this year.

Facebook was launched in 2004 and now has more than half a billion active users around the world.